William's Truth
by DaynaFoxe
Summary: William comes clean about the truth about his past.


"Look, you were right. I lied. But, I want to tell you the truth now, okay Becky? I want to tell _you_ the real story. Or, at least as much as I know. But just you."

Fourteen year old Rebecca Durham looked at him mistrustfully. They'd been in school together since first grade, when her family had moved to Wyoming. She was used to the stories he told everyone. Most of the kids thought he was lying, but he told them just convincingly enough that most of them thought he just _might_ be telling them the truth, so they listened instead of making fun of him. Becky had been one of the very few who had refused to listen, and had outright told him he was a liar. Most of the kids who hadn't believed him he'd shrugged off, but not Becky. He was always going out of his way to try and convince Becky that his stories were true, which annoyed her to no end. Most of her friends thought she was crazy; he _was_ handsome, and the stories weren't exactly hurting anyone… But Becky couldn't stand his childish antics.

"Why should I believe that what you're telling me now is the truth? I've never heard you tell the truth about anything, Paul." Becky stood up abruptly. "And besides that, why should I care anyway?"

She started to walk away and he jumped up after her, grabbing her arm. "Becky, wait! Hey, wait a minute!"

She yanked her arm away from him and glared. "Don't touch me, Paul. I don't care about your stupid stories."

His blue eyes were imploring. "Just give me a chance. Please. This is the truth, I promise." When she didn't respond right away he continued. "Come on, Becky, please! Just listen to me. Is it really gonna kill you to listen, just this once?"

Becky sighed and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, looking around. "Alright, Paul. Fine. But make it quick. My Dad wants me home by six."

Becky settled down on the grass, cross-legged. Paul laid down beside her, his arms linked behind his head, staring up at the sky. Becky picked at the grass absently, waiting for him to start talking. "Paul?"

"I'm thinking. I'm trying to figure out where to start." He answered. The fluffy clouds passing by overhead were reflected in his far-away gaze as he stared at them, into them, past them. After another moment he began speaking.

"I really am adopted. My Mom and Dad adopted me when I was 8 months old, give or take. My name was William Mulder. I didn't have a middle name. I don't know if my birth parents were just lazy or not. Mom says she thinks maybe they were Roman Catholic and were planning on using my confirmation name as a middle name. But I don't know. Since Mom and Dad aren't Catholic, they changed my name to William Paul when they adopted me, so I could be named after Dad."

"And the telekinesis? The special powers?" Becky asked after a moment.

"No. I never had any abilities like that. No government agencies after me, no aliens, no conspiracies." Paul answered. His head was turned slightly away from her, still looking into the sky, but now off into the distance as well.

"So… than you _weren't_ put up for adoption because secret agents in the government were after you, working with some evil alien race who wants to take over the planet?" Becky's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "And your parents _didn't_ actually investigate unsolved 'phenomena' for the government?"

"No, I told you. No secret government agencies, no aliens, no nothing like that. I don't even know if 'Mulder' was my Mom's last name or my Dad's."

"Wait, you even made up their _names_?" Becky's voice was incredulous. "Why bother?"

"Because I don't know their real names, and I needed something to call them." Paul answered, still not looking at her.

Becky smirked. "So, you mean 'Scully' and 'Doggett' weren't just coincidentally the same names as those baseball announcers?"

Paul looked at her finally, not quite smiling. "Nope. I just like the Dodgers. And when I came up with my Bio-Dad's name, we were having a problem with foxes getting into the chicken coop, and I thought it would just make a cool name."

Becky nodded to herself, still smirking. "Well, what else about your birth parents? Are they really even FBI agents?"

Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess they could be. All I know is they were in some kind of law enforcement. It could be the FBI, it could be the CIA, the military, State Police, or just some little department in some little town."

Becky stared at him disbelievingly. "Seriously, Paul? So than what _was_ the truth?"

"Yeah. Seriously. I told you, I lied. I lied about everything, pretty much every single thing. All I know about my biological parents is that they were in some kind of law enforcement and had an affair. My Bio-Mom got preggers, and she ended up losing her job over the affair between her and my Dad, and he ended up being pretty heavily punished too, desk duty or something, I guess. Anyway, they tried being together for real for awhile, since they didn't have to hide anything anymore, but it didn't work out. They split up, and I ended up being put up for adoption. I don't why they decided to put me up for adoption, just that they did. And that's the true story."

Becky and Paul were both silent for a few minutes. Becky was the one who finally spoke first.

"Paul… why did you lie? Why did you make all those stupid stories up, all those 'cases', X-files… Why didn't you just tell the truth?"

Paul looked away from her again. "I don't know… because they were making fun of me, I guess. Everyone found out I was adopted, and all I heard every day was how my parents didn't want me. I had to come up with a good reason for them to have given me up, a really good reason, the best reason anyone could ever have to give their kid up. And I just wanted to be special. You know? I wanted to be somebody, to have some kind of abilities, something..."

Becky nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I can dig that."

Paul looked up at her, surprised. "You can? Really? You don't just think I'm even more of a loser now than you thought I was before?"

Becky gave him a look. "I never thought you were a loser, Paul. I just don't like that you're always lying. It's hard to be friends with someone who isn't honest."

Paul's brown hair hung down in his eyes as he hung his head. "I'm sorry, Becky. You're right, when I was a kid I didn't get it, but I do now. That's why I asked you to hear me out, because I wanted to tell you the truth, even if you ended up thinking even less of me because of it."

Becky gave him a genuine smile, the first one she'd ever given him, and stood up. "You know, I don't know why I even believe _this_ story from you, Paul Van De Kamp, but I do. It's better than aliens, and Chupacabras, and werewolves and giant fluke worms, anyway." Becky held her hand out and helped Paul up. "Honestly, without all the silly stories, I think the _real_ you is pretty cool."

Paul's eyes widened. "Real-really? You do?"

"Yeah. Sure, of course. You're a nice guy, when your not making stuff up."

Paul and Becky walked across the soccer field side by side, heading towards North Avenue. Both of their homes were in that direction, and Paul had promised to walk her home before heading home himself. As they left the field Becky looked over at him and smiled. "You know Paul, I love baseball too. I know you're on the team; maybe next time you guys play I'll come and watch."

Paul looked over at her, shocked, but she was looking off in the other direction. Still not looking at him, she slipped her hand into his, and as they walked down the street a goofy grin spread over fifteen year old William Paul Van De Kamp's face.

~ _I was thinking about different ways The X-Files could officially end, and than I remembered the end of St. Elsewhere, and how the entire show occurred inside the mind of an autistic child, Tommy Westphall, and one thing led to another, and ended up with this short little one-shot. What if The X-Files were just the made-up stories of an adopted teenage boy trying to explain why his parents gave him up? Hope you enjoy! And I hope the official end to The X-Files is nothing like this!_


End file.
